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Alucard
This is the OVA version of Alucard. For the Anime version, click here. It is noticeable that Alucard's attire sometimes changes according to how much power he is using: as he charges up to engage in battle, first his sunglasses, then his fedora will disappear; in the manga he also removes his arms from the sleeves of his coat letting it simply just hang on his shoulders like a cloak whilst he fires from underneath it. It has been posited that these articles of clothing are direct physical manifestations of whatever system Hellsing uses to control Alucard, with his leather straight jacket representing his true nature. His gloves, which are engraved with the Hellsing seal (a pentacle decorated with occult symbols and several mottoes, reading: "Hell's Gate Arrested / Gott Mit Uns / And Shine Heaven Now") are also thought to be part of this mechanism and the source of Hellsing's control over him (Alucard's distinctive gloves are visible in the vast majority of his transformations, even when Alucard himself is not in a humanoid form). However, in Hellsing OVA II, in the flashback scene where Alucard recalls being beaten by Abraham Van Hellsing, Alucard is still seen wearing these gloves, despite the fact that he was not yet under their control. This is a continuity error, because when compared to the panel from the manga, it shows normal white gloves. In his final release state, Alucard reverted to his original form back when he was still Vlad III Dracula. In this form he appeared as his former, 45-year-old self with a thick beard and mustache. He also wore heavy medieval armor with a huge tattered cloak and carried a long sword. However, he quickly returned to his normal form when confronted by Anderson. The enormous army surrounding him in this state, along with the souls of every single person he has ever drank the blood of, accompanies this form as well. Some fans claim that his "girly form" is the Hellsing family doing. However, in Hellsing: The Dawn, chapter 4, Walter questioned Alucard's girly form and asked if he is still half asleep, in which Alucard answered "I can change my shape into anything. The particular form I take... it means nothing to me." It is clear that he chose this form of his own accord, simply because he can. Also in volume 9, Alucard also admits in his 'Girlycard' form that "There's never any meaning in the form that I take". The only real difference between each form is the preferred method of fighting; in "Girlycard" form he uses a tommygun, in "Count" form he uses his dual pistols, in "Nosferatu, the no-life king" form he uses his hands and shadows to fight, and in "Dracula" form he primarily uses his Claymore sword. To sum it up, the release states are not just the markers of Alucard's growing powers, they also have an effect on his appearance and fighting methods as well. Up to level 1, Alucard usually takes his "Count-form", even with his new personality, he still takes the form he once had as Count Dracula. (It can be assumed that the vampire sees this form as the one which is fitting his monstrous being the most.) In this state, he usually fights with his guns, using his bare hands only against human targets or to finish off his vampire victims, often by impaling them. In his level one form, he usually wears the black leather coat/straightjacket seen right before Integra released the vampire from his captivity in the dungeon of Hellsing HQ. This form is sometimes called "Nosferatu" or "the no-life king" as noted during his final battle with Anderson. This form seems to possess the most raw physical power when it comes to fighting hand to hand, as shown when he used it against Luke Valentine (implying that he was a very powerful opponent), Tubalcain Alhambra (whose powers amused Alucard), Alexander Anderson (when the priest was reinforced with Helena's Nail) and the vampirized Walter. In this form, the vampire seems to prefer fighting with hand-to-hand combat, however, he can also use firearms. It is only in Alucard's level one and level zero states that he uses Baskerville. In Ultimate's eighth episode, Sir Integra issues the command "Release control art restriction zero. ... Say the words and release your full power." However, Alucard's power is not unleashed until he incants the words written on his coffin, "The Bird of Hermes is my name, eating my wings to make me tame." This demonstrates what is called "the two-man rule", a protocol requiring the actions of two persons to advance, used in cryptography and nuclear weapons launches. Alucard remains at release-state zero for his final fights with Alexander Anderson and vampirized Walter Dornez. In release-state zero, Alucard appears, at different times, in all forms seen throughout the anime to that point. In the final minutes of his fight against vampire Walter Dornez, Alucard adopts his "Girlycard" form to mock Walter's age-regression. Identity Alucard's true identity - that of both the historical Vlad Ţepeş and the fictional Count Dracula - is only hinted at in the earlier volumes. Such early hints include his anagrammatic name (Alucard is Dracula, reversed), the title of the series and the name of Integra's family, and the impalement of the GATE officers in volume 3. From there, the hints become much less vague, and his identity as the fictional Count Dracula is brought to light. In volume 4, a dreaming Alucard recalls his defeat at the hands of Abraham van Hellsing, which marked the beginning of his servitude to the Hellsing family. In volume 7, the narration alludes to the Count's arrival in London aboard the Demeter, from Bram Stoker's novel Dracula. In volume 8, his full identity is made plain when Integra places his control level at zero and greets him with, "Welcome back, Count." Reverting to the body he had at the time of his "death" at age 44-45 (as the historical Vlad III's death occurred in either December of 1476 or January of 1477, and his birth-month is unknown), he summons massive hordes of souls he had devoured during the centuries. These include his own Wallachian army, his slaughtered peasantry, the Turkish Janissary, war horses, and countless others. Throughout his battle with Anderson, Alucard frequently compares his rival to the man who defeated him a hundred years ago - Abraham van Hellsing. Additionally, in Hundred Swords (3), the other protagonists are spoken of by Alucard - Abraham van Hellsing, John Seward (mistakenly written as "Jack" Seward in the manga) , Quincey Morris, and Arthur Holmwood (Jonathan Harker is strangely omitted). The final chapter of volume 8 - Castlevania (1) - consists of a flashback of Alucard's life and "death" as the Voivode of Wallachia, Vlad III Dracula. Another indication that Alucard is Vlad is the fact that he frequently impales his victims; the priest and Leif with his bare hands in volume 1, the GATE officers in Brazil on flagpoles in volume 3, Rip Van Winkle with her own musket in volume 5 and hundreds of victims in London during the Millennium/Vatican siege. Most of these revelations are not present in Gonzo's TV series. However, the final episode does feature a visual reference to Vlad Ţepeş, and Alucard refers to his name as being "a bit of an enigma" when speaking to Incognito before they fight. There are few obvious references to the character of Count Dracula. Also in the last few minutes of the anime's last episode Incognito is impaled. Impaling his enemies from groin to mouth was common practice for Vlad III The Impaler (Vlad Ţepeş, also known as Dracula). Additionally, upon Incognito's defeat, a close-up is seen of Alucard with half his face shrouded in shadow. When lightning flashes, the other half of his face is revealed to be that of the Impaler. Historically, Vlad Ţepeş was responsible for the deaths of between 40,000 and 100,000 of his enemies and various villains in his own country during his reign as the monarch of Wallachia (a major portion of what is now present-day Romania). His most well known way of execution was impalement. For torturing people by impalement, it is alleged that his executioners learned how to have the victims placed so that the pikes, spears, or other shafts on which they had them impaled would pass most or all of the victim's vital organs, entering their lower nether regions and exiting near the back of their neck. In this way, the victims could be kept alive for days on end before they finally bled to death. When simply executing a person, they were typically impaled straight through the center of their torso, with the shaft entering their groin and exiting through the mouth. This is paralleled by one of the end scenes from the final episode of the TV anime, where Alucard leaves Incognito's corpse, impaled from groin to mouth, hanging from the top of the tower. Vlad was also known for his deeds as the"Voivode of Wallachia, particularly the fact that any criminal, thief etc. would be punished severely. When the Ottoman army attempted to invade Wallachia in the mid 15th century, they encountered several thousand impaled and rotting corpses staked on the banks of the Danube River. Historical records state that the Ottoman emperor saw his forces return shortly after, many of them sobbing and ranting that whoever had slaughtered all those people had to be the Devil. Perhaps the best-known incident regarding Vlad's mean of execution was the way by which he prevented the Ottoman Army from invading Wallachia again (following the fall of Constantinople) in 1462. Reports show that he had 20,000 captured turkish soldiers and convicted criminals impaled and staked out on the borders of his capital city, Târgoviște. Mehmed II, the leader of the Ottomans (who was well-known himself for his use of psychological warfare), was sickened by the sight of the corpses outside the Wallachian capital and ordered his forces back to Constantinople. Quotes Voice Actors * French Dub: Eric Peter (TV), Antoine Tomé (OVA) * German Dub: Torsten Munchow * Czech Dub: Martin Stránský (TV) http://dabingforum.cz/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=25763 * Japanese Dub: Jōji Nakata * English Dub: Crispin Freeman * Korean Dub: Eung-sik Min * Italian Dub: Roberto Pedicini (TV), Lorenzo Scattorin (OVA) * Portuguese Dub (Brazil): Affonso Amajones * Spanish Dub: Jose Manuel Vieira Trivia * In Hirano's setting, Alucard's weight ranges from 0~100 Kg, depending on the form he takes. It is also stated that Alucard's hair is part of the shadow, so it changes all the time. * Below the star on Alucard's glove it has the German words, "Gott Mit Uns", which translates to "God With Us". Interestingly, those words were used by the German military until the end of World War II, and during the Nazi era by the Wehrmacht (the regular German army) whereas the Nazi Waffen-SS used "Meine Ehre heißt Treue", which means "Loyalty is my Honor", instead. * In the original fan-translation of the Hellsing: Volume 2, the translators incorrectly translated Walter's line referring to the Jackal, making him call it the "Joshua" even though the Katakana reads "KASURU", which would be the correct Katakana for "Casull". Since then, many fans have perpetuated the name, so much so that ADV (the Official European Distributor for the TV Series) called it "Joshua" on their Official Website, the Special Features, and the booklets on their DVD release. Regardless, this name is incorrect as it never appears in the Original Japanese version of either the Manga, TV series, or OVA, or any official Translations of Hellsing, not even ADV's, as they use Geneon's dub and subtitles. * Interestingly, in the English commentary for the first Hellsing Ultimate OVA, Crispin Freeman notes that he was originally going to give Alucard a Romanian accent, but decided on an American accent instead. Most likely, the Romanian accent heard in the intro of the English OVA II, and the one in OVA VIII upon unleashing level 0 is what Alucard was originally going to sound like. It's also likely that Alucard is meant to have a Romanian accent in the manga. ** Interestingly enough, Freeman voiced a different version of Dracula in the Castlevania series. In Lament of Innocence, Freeman voices Mathias Cronqvist, a tactician who later becomes Count Dracula in the series. * In many of the sequences after Alucard receives the Jackal, he is seen using it alongside the Casull in a dual-wielding style. The Jackal has a left-facing case ejector, something most guns do not have, and this makes it appear as though the gun was meant to be used with the Casull. However, Alucard is almost always shown in the Manga and the Anime holding the Jackal in his right hand and the Casull with his left, causing the case ejectors to face each other (which would throw spent shell casings into his face). This is most likely an error on Hirano's part, as Alucard (with his extensive experience with guns) would know to face the case ejectors outwards; in the OVAs, this is exactly the case. ** Considering his personality, it's also possible he purposefully does this to challenge himself, making the bullets blind him. It's also possible this isn't even a factor for Alucard, considering his 'third eye'. * It has been noted by some that during Alucard's flashback, Prof. Abraham Hellsing is wearing a similar red outfit to Alucard's usual dress. ** This could have been the inspiration for Alucard's well known "Count" form. * Hirano has admitted he drew inspiration for Alucard's appearance off of Vash the Stampede from the manga and anime series Trigun (with similar jacket and glasses shared by the two characters). This is most notable in Volume 1, back when Alucard's art design was vastly different from the rest of the Manga. * In some scenes of the manga, the pentagram on Alucard's gloves changes to a hexagram or sometimes disappears entirely. * It is stated in the official guidebook that the term "The Bird of Hermes is my name/Eating my wings to make me tame" etched on his coffin is his pledge of loyalty to serve the Hellsing family after his capture. So his coffin not only serves as his resting place, it also serves as the promise and contract he made to the Hellsing family. * Alucard has two Paganism references on him. The obvious one is the Pentacle symbol on his gloves. The second is his epithet "The Bird of Hermes." Hermes was the Greek messenger god, noted for his winged sandals and ability to fly. Hermes was also noted for transporting souls to the Underworld, while Alucard, in contrast, devours them. * "The Bird of Hermes is my name/Eating my wings to make me tame" is also part of the Ripley Scroll, a medieval work about emblematic symbolism. George Ripley was an alchemist who lived around about Vlad the Impaler's time and is also said to have known the formula to create the Philosopher's Stone. * Oddly during the final episode of the anime, during the brief moment when it shows half of Alucard's face as that of Vlad Tepes, his skin is paler than that of his vampiric self, despite this form being able to go out in the sun. * At the end of the credits of OVA 1, Alucard's girl form is shown, but with a dark greenish-brown jacket instead of white and the hair is purple instead of black. * In the manga Alucard's gloves hold an easter egg, one of the words readable was "Excel Saga" which is the name of an anime/manga made by Rikdo Koshi. * Before becoming a vampire, Alucard's eyes were a bluish-purple in the OVA. However, in his famous portrait, Vlad Tepes has brown eyes. There are also historical records which describe him as having "threatening" green eyes. * The character Solomon from Genndy Tartakovsky's Sym-Bionic Titan cartoon is a visual reference to Alucard. Forms *The first form Alucard had in the OVA was in a black straightjacket that kept his arms right behind his back, he broke free of the restraints in order to protect Integra Hellsing from death. Alucard's appearance changed since then but every now and then he goes back to this form, he has used it; in his fight with Luke Valentine, his fight with Tubalcain Alhambra, when he attempted to board the Eagle and succeeded when he finally killed Anderson, and in his fight with Walter. *In World War II (September 1944, specifically), when he arrived in Warsaw, Alucard took on the form of a little girl, known as "Girlycard". Although he changed his looks, Alucard didn't change his voice (at least, in the OVA. It is possible that his voice changed in the manga). In this form, Alucard wears a hat made of fur, a white suit including a long coat, and for a weapon he has a Tommy gun. *When Alucard was sent by Integra Hellsing to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, along with Seras Victoria and Pip Bernadotte, he changed his form to what seemed to be a business man. Only Alucard's clothes seem to change here, as his hair is as it was before Abraham Van Helsing defeated him, Alucard wears a dark grey suit with a long coat he only wears over his shoulders, along with the goggle sided sunglasses he usually wears. *Alucard is Count Dracula, the King Of Vampires, which means when he was human he was originally Vlad The Impaler, a three-time Voivode of Wallachia. Alucard's Vlad form is his "original" form, and when he is using it he wears shining silver armor and a large black cape (red on the inside), In the English dub he also gains a Romanian accent. In real life Vlad had a beard but in Hellsing he does not, he does however have a lot of stubble when he transforms. Also when Alucard returns to Integra Hellsing and Seras Victoria in London, Seras asks Alucard after he transformed into Vlad- "You originally had a beard, didn't you?" (In the English dub she just playfully points out that he grew a mustache) *Alucard's most common form is his "Count" form, which is the same form described at the top of the page. It is possible that Alucard mimicked this attire from Abraham Van Helsing, who wore a similar uniform in Alucard's flashback in OVA 2. Alucard uses his "Count" form in through the whole story of Hellsing, but only wears the fedora hat up to OVA 3, and the glasses up to OVA 4. Alucard sometimes manipulates this form; by increasing the length of the cape of his overcoat even after reaching his feet, or he simply wears the coat without having his arms through the sleeves and over his shoulders, as he does when he reaches the Eagle in OVA 4. Even though in "The Dawn" Alucard uses his "Girlycard" form, in the WW2 clips in the OVA 3 credits, Alucard is seen in his common "Count" form while being gunned down by Nazis, and regenerating shortly after. Alucard even reverts back to his "Count" form half way through his second fight with Anderson, right after leaving his "Original" Vlad form. Interestingly enough, when he regenerates, so does his clothing. *In the 1st volume of the manga, Alucard wore a full-length trench coat that could be buttoned to cover most of his face just below eye-level. However, after receiving much criticism from readers saying he had too many resemblances to other characters outside Hellsing (Vash The Stampede in particular), Kouta Hirano redesigned Alucard with his current design. The anime and the OVA has him in the "Count" form from the beginning. *One form which is the least used appears to be his usage the Black hound of Baskerville's form. It appears as a large black dog with multiple eyes on each side of his face. Alucard is seen as the dog in the Hellsing opening as well as in the trailer for the Hellsing OVAs. Gallery See Alucard/Gallery References Category:Vampire Category:True Vampire Category:Protagonists Category:Males Category:Characters Category:Living Characters Category:Hellsing Members Category:Trump cards Category:Vampire Hunters Category:Condictionally Living Characters